Stuff I see, which you might not.

A day at the Fair

by Cate on June 14, 2013

On Wednesday, I went to the opening day of the Craft & Quilt Fair here in Sydney. I met up with my sister-in-law and her super-talented friend (who, in between running a family with four kids and baking, quilting, photographing, cooking, sewing also writes a blog: Bea Spoke Quilts). For the record, my sister-in-law is also super-talented, but doesn’t have a blog. In fact, she doesn’t even read this blog on a regular basis, but let’s not get in to that now…

So, back to the Fair. A huge queue to get tickets, where the demographic meant that the ‘Seniors’ special was the best seller by about 50:1, I would estimate. It was very crowded and the Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour was packed with all kinds of crafty and quilty wares. There were the many different versions of the expected stalls: sewing, fabrics, quilting, cards, scrapbooking etc. And then there were the niche stalls: doll making, sock monkeys, teddy bear making and my favourite stall, selling kimono fabrics. Its name? KimoYES. Genius.

I stocked up on some cool card making things and was enjoying a tutorial on glitter butterflies (yes, really) when the stall holders uncovered a crime: the $77 hot glue gun had been stolen. Brazen as you like, some old biddy had walked in to the stall & swiped it – the boss man said he had seen her, but when his wife asked if he could identify her, he just shook his head and looked around helplessly at the scene: hundreds of almost identical white-haired ladies in grey cardis and sensible shoes. It was the perfect crime.

Other than that drama and the shock of incredible quilts made by 11 year olds, it’s well worth a visit if you’re looking for crafty inspiration this weekend. The website is here. Just hold on to your valuables (and your glue guns) – the world of craft & quilts is not for sissies.